Holocene fluvial history of the Nile's west bank at ancient Thebes, Luxor, Egypt, and its relation with cultural dynamics and basin‐wide hydroclimatic variability

Abstract

In the Theban area around modern Luxor (Egypt), the River Nile divides the temple complexes of Karnak and Luxor from New Kingdom royal cult temples on the western desert edge. Few sites have been archaeologically identified in the western flood plain, despite its presumed pivotal role in the ancient ritual landscape as the territory that both physically divided and symbolically con-

Reconstruction of former channel systems in the northwestern Nile Delta (Egypt) based on corings and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT)

“…However, the eastern half of the profile may also represent a floodplain close to the detected channel. The slightly decreasing electrical resistivity towards the eastern profile end may correspond to the decrease in the mean deposit grain size with distance to an active stream (Toonen et al, 2020). Following this idea, a corresponding floodplain on the western edge at approx.…”

“…is identified as unit FP. The existence of fine sand and the number of color differences within the sediments suggest a fluvial origin, presumably with minor distance to the actual channel stream (Toonen et al, 2020). The sediments above (2.00-1.25 m b.s.)…”

Aridification of the Egyptian Sahara 5000–4000 cal BP revealed from x-ray fluorescence analysis of Nile Delta sediments at Kom al-Ahmer/Kom Wasit

“…Pottery was also used as a relative chronostratigraphic indicator (see acknowledgements), in a similar method as used elsewhere in Egypt (Bunbury et al, 2008;Pennington and Thomas, 2016;Toonen et al, 2018). The geoarchaeological fieldwork established the existence of a continuous sedimentary horizon containing numerous fragments of pottery (>1% by volume) and other cultural material (bone, slag, etc.)…”

Sandhills, sandbanks, waterways, canals and sacred lakes at Sais in the Nile Delta

“…With better typologies of the pottery, it may be possible to have more confidence in dating the small, but numerous, fragments that have been collected from the drill cores, as has been done at Buto (Hartung et al, 2009, pp. 172-188) and at Thebes (Toonen et al, 2017). In C161, there was almost constant settlement debris to a depth of 8.88 m below the ground, suggesting longlived and continuous human activity over a long period, especially allowing for the fact that the upper level begins at about 800 BCE, because any later settlement material has been removed.…”